2015 Cereal Drive

The 2015 Children's Professional Nurse Council Cereal Drive, broke records this time around raising 895,382 servings.

The biggest single collection day in the weeklong cereal drive is still from last Wednesday, when Fox 2's Jay Towers broadcasting live from the Kroger at 13 Mile and Woodward, saw an incredible 500,000 servings come in during the day. The donations included a truck from Kellogg's loaded with Raisin Bran, 700 boxes of cereal from the Kroger store, plus hundreds of boxes from individual donors and thousands of dollars in cash donations.

THANK YOU
Total Servings Raised for 2015895,382hope to see you back in 2016 when we reach one million servings.

The end of the school year often marks the end of a guaranteed meal for almost half of Detroit’s children. In Southeast Michigan more than 300,000 free or reduced fee breakfasts and lunches are served daily during the school year. The Children’s Hospital of Michigan Professional Nurse Council at the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) leads a community effort to provide area children with a consistent daily meal over summer recess. All cereal collected is donated to Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan, who then distributes donations throughout the community to over 600 food pantries in Southeastern Michigan.

“As one of the best children’s hospitals in the country, we do not just treat sick or injured children, we are also in the business of keeping them healthy,” said Larry Gold, CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

Studies show that one in every four Michigan children lives in a household where breakfast is not guaranteed. For Detroit area children, that number is one in two, making hunger an even more serious issue for Southeast Michigan.

“Metro-Detroit communities really come together and use this opportunity to make a direct contribution and difference in their neighborhoods. This effort really transcends city boundaries and is one problem with serious health consequences that we can help make a huge dent in as a community,” said Pam Taurence, R.N. and Children’s Hospital of Michigan Professional Nurse Council member.

"Breakfast is such an important meal for growing children," said Gerry Brisson, president of Gleaners. "Yet, it's often skipped by families who struggle to make ends meet. The cereal provided through this remarkable drive will help thousands of kids start their days with the nourishment they need to be happy, not hungry, this summer."

We thank you for your support and partnership in this very important endeavor.

What does child hunger look like?FACT: Child hunger causes health problems
▪Hungry children are sick more often, more likely to be hospitalized and more likely to suffer physical, emotional and developmental problems.

FACT:Child hunger creates educational problems
▪ Under-nutrition before the age of 3 fundamentally changes the neurological structure of the brain and central nervous system, harming a child’s ability to learn.▪ By the 3rd grade, hungry children have lower reading and math scores than their non-hungry peers.

FACT:Child hunger eventually impacts our economic vitality▪ Adults who experienced hunger as children are not well prepared mentally, emotionally, physically or socially to perform in a work environment.

Child hunger in our community
▪ In Michigan, 1 in 6 people struggle with hunger, 1 out of 5 children struggles with hunger. ▪ There are 707,130 people in southeast Michigan who are food insecure; 200,990 of them are children.▪ In southeast Michigan, more than 300,000 children receive free or reduced-price meals in school.

When school recesses for the summer, these children are vulnerable to undernourishment and hunger.▪ During the 2013-14 fiscal year, Gleaners reached 144,871 children through our food and education programs. These programs include mobile pantries, summer lunch services and emergency food distribution through Gleaners partner network of day cares, summer camps, pantries, shelters and other agencies that serve children in need.

Cereal is an important food item for our food distributions, as it is a food that needs no preparation, can be eaten at any time of the day, and is well-liked by children.

Every dollar donated to Gleaners feeds one child for one day.

77,000 meals are distributed by Gleaners each day to 510 partner agencies in five southeastern Michigan counties.